Awesome Satellite!

Before I get to the point of this post, I would like to recap Friday's Severe weather..and why we didn't get any. If you recall, I was quite excited before hand about the potential for some major severe weather. However, there were too many clouds and too much rain to allow for things to fire up. By early afternoon, I had narrowed my prediction to roughly 15-20 storm reports across the whole Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Here is the storm report map from Friday so you can't say I totally messed up the forecast! *laughs*



Now, onto the point of this post. I was looking at some satellites imagery today and I zoomed in on Southern California, which has been in the news with winds over 100mph and massive forest fires. You can clearly pick out the smoke from the fires blowing out over the Pacific Ocean. I haven't figured out how to get it to loop on here yet...if I don't figure it out and you want to see it, let me know and I can send the loop to you!


Now, it seems we hear about high winds and fires in southern California every year around this time. Often times, the media blames the "Santa Ana" Winds, and rightly so. But what are they and why are they so destructive? Accuweather does an excellent job explaining this phenomena. I would simply link to the story, but since it is one of their headline stories, the article will likely no longer be available in the next day or two. So, here is a screen shot of the article, courtesy of Accuweather (click to enlarge!):

2PM Update

The Severe Weather Expert at Accuweather.com (Henry Margusity) has updated his analysis of the threat for today. He generally reflects what the Storm Prediction Center implied and my main concern going through today.

The clouds and rain have helped stabilize the atmosphere. However, there is a wave of energy lifting northward from West Virginia. It is this enhanced energy, combined with all the moisture and strong winds in the atmosphere, that will get things going in a few hours. Henry said to expect about a dozen storm reports total...I still think there might be a bit more, maybe 15-20 across the whole northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Expect the next update later this afternoon as storms begin to form!

12:30PM Update

The storm prediction center has lessened the chance of damaging wind in their 12:30PM outlook. While the coverage are of the tornado threat has shrunk, it remains the same across all of Central New York and Pennsylvania. There is still a lot of rain out there from last nights weather and it is tough to say how much this will prevent other storms from developing. Even with the rain, there still should be at least some severe thunderstorms developing later on.

Next update: 2 or 3PM or sooner